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Would the original fans who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the series enduring for a 25 years, following experiencing the most surreal of plotlines? Such staying power is partly attributed to its broad appeal, tickling the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it may not feature anything quite as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this fourth feature thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while handing out payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Groove

Starting with a festive short featuring Paramount's alternative weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie soon settles into a comfortably silly groove. Its storyline acts as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a detail that thrills him as it at last allows him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An early, trippy gag: our overexcitable hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, like the best modern American animation, the real thrill ride is the corkscrew narrative.

The Adventure for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's quest to secure the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a grander scope, the film's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digital animation and hand-crafted components, consistently highlighting pleasing, properly cartoonish visuals.

Whether its freewheeling silliness will linger after the credits is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Notable scenes include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably squarer than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to resonate with the younger crowd: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the franchise – and arguably the most humorous pirate-themed movie in years, including a hearty Davy Jones gag and a saltily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early students will probably be snickering anew.

Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants arrives on December 19th in the US, December 20th in Ireland, and 26 December in Australia and the UK.